McCann to stand trial in perjury case

A former Constantine reserve police officer will face trial on five counts of perjury in connection with the 2007 homicide of Jodi Parrack.

By Kathy JessupJournal Correspondent

A former Constantine reserve police officer will face trial on five counts of perjury in connection with the 2007 homicide of Jodi Parrack.But investigators still have no forensic evidence directly linking Raymond E. McCann or anyone else to male DNA that was recovered from the girl’s body about three hours after she was first reported missing.St. Joseph County District Judge Robert Pattison heard preliminary examination testimony from four prosecution witnesses Wednesday before ruling that there is probable cause that McCann allegedly lied and told investigators inconsistent stories about what happened the night Parrack’s body was found.Defense attorney James Mequio challenged St. Joseph County Assistant Prosecutor Erin Harrington’s case, charging that the prosecution was using the perjury charge to jail McCann for months in an attempt to “coerce” him.“This is not the St. Joseph County judicial system at work but the St. Joseph County Guantanamo Bay situation at work,” Mequio charged. “Do they want to waterboard (information) out of him?“Harrington promised that at trial, the prosecution would produce more witnesses to show why McCann’s alleged lies under oath “are so important.”Pattison also declined a defense motion to reduce McCann’s $225,000 bond and release him from the St. Joseph County jail, where he’s been lodged since his arrest in April. Perjury in a murder case carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, but Mequio said sentencing guidelines would likely call for a maximum of 30 to 50 months if his client is found guilty.Rather than the single perjury count originally charged, Harrington came to court Wednesday with five counts, including the following allegations:

McCann said he went to a Constantine grocery store to ask if anyone there had seen the missing child and a dog running loose. A clerk from the store testified Wednesday that he asked her whether the store had security cameras and asked to check on a dog complaint.
McCann said he had met a Constantine patrolman at a local park and was told then not to have his service weapon with him as he searched for the missing girl. The officer testified that conversation occurred on the phone and the two never met at the park.
McCann testified that the patrolman told him to meet him at a local recreation spot as part of the search. The officer denied having that conversation and video at that location showed McCann had not been there, although he told investigators he spent some time waiting there during the search.
When investigators asked McCann how DNA from Parrack or her mother could have turned up in his vehicle, he said he had hugged Valerie Jo Carver —now Jo Gilson — at the crime scene shortly after she found her daughter’s body. Gilson testified Wednesday she was certain she had not had physical contact with McCann. Harrington acknowledged Wednesday that authorities had actually found no crime DNA in McCann’s vehicle but that he had offered the allegedly bogus explanation.
In later interviews, McCann told authorities he had seen a child in the back of Gilson’s vehicle while searching for Jodi and had said to Gilson, “Oh good, you found her.” Gilson testified Wednesday that conversation never occurred.
Mequio characterized the case as “an absurd prosecution,” saying McCann has no criminal record and had cooperated with authorities, including 22 hours of interrogation that began the night of the murder.“Mr. Mequio wants to minimize the lies, but they are significant,” Harrington responded.Michigan State Police Detective Trooper Bryan Fuller, a member of the cold case investigation team, said officials are still awaiting results from a third batch of forensic case evidence; a fourth batch is awaiting submission. Fuller said about 70 leads still require attention.Meanwhile, the team has been downsized and case files relocated from Constantine to an MSP facility.A trial date was not set Wednesday.